Thinking of the IT security incidents of 2018, threats like Spectre, Coinhive and Scarab come to mind. These were events that were covered by the media and attracted widespread attention. And they were examples that made it clear that IT security in companies is more relevant than ever before. But do these incidents also reflect the issues that most interest IT decision-makers? An exclusive flash study by itsecurity-xpert.com now provides insightful answers. In cooperation with the B2B platform selfcampaign, we have scrutinised the online behaviour of IT decision-makers. The study is based on an analysis of the articles visited by CIOs and CISOs.

And these are the three biggest concerns of IT decision-makers:

3. Data Theft

It is hardly surprising that data theft appears in the top 3 of the most important IT security topics this year, which has been significantly influenced by the GDPR. It is almost surprising that Phishing & Co, with "only" 19%, ranked slightly behind the top riders. And this despite the fact that, according to a McAfee study, every fourth company has allegedly already suffered from data theft. One possible explanation: "Data theft" plays a decisive role as a superordinate topic in numerous IT security issues. After all, IT security is often seen as applied data protection. This is why data theft may be a sub-aspect in numerous other topics...

2. Ransomware

... For example, in the area of ransomware, which was also an integral part of IT security reporting in 2018. Although WannaCry, probably the most popular ransomware, first appeared in may 2017, the after-effects are still clearly noticeable today. Also in 2018 WannaCry and its successor did their mischief on the internet. As a result, a total of 25% of all IT security articles received were concerned with ransomware. An end of the wave is not in sight, rather it is to be assumed that ransomware will encounter us even more frequently in 2019 than we would like.

1. Mobile Security

Mobile matters – and IT decision makers know this only too well. Concerns about infected smartphones and mobile devices have long since arrived in the business environment. In times of BYOD, mobile office and home office, mobile security as an aspect of corporate security is a factor that should not be underestimated: 33% of IT security articles dealt with the security of mobile devices in 2018. The main focus was on smartphones, which are also used for business purposes, as well as their Android and iOS operating systems.

In addition...

The three subject areas of data theft, ransomware and mobile security, together accounting for 77%, impressively cover the vast majority of all articles read on IT specialist pages. Only a handful of other topics come close to these dimensions. These include articles on hackers and hacking (6%), e-mail security (3.8%) and – surprisingly low – cryptojacking (2.2%).

Conclusion

Examples of major IT security incidents are not necessarily an indicator of the importance of a topic for IT decision-makers. This is how the surprising result of the Blitzstudie can be summarized. Instead of Spectre and Coinhive, IT decision-makers are mainly interested in general questions about mobile security in companies. The topic of cryptojacking, which has been highly discussed in recent weeks, also plays hardly any role in broad perception – but could gain in importance in 2019 if the hype continues.